New legislation
The government has approved a draft amendment to the Criminal Code that toughens penalties for the most serious environmental crimes. It will now be possible to impose a prison sentence of up to ten years for serious environmental damage, also known as ecocide.
The amendment responds to the European Directive on the criminal protection of the environment and modifies the existing facts of environmental crimes. At the same time, it introduces new offences, such as the unauthorised execution of a project subject to an environmental impact assessment or the unauthorised recycling of a ship. The aim of the amendments is to more effectively penalise acts that cause widespread or permanent damage to land, water, air or ecosystems.
For the most serious acts, the court is to impose penalties of up to three to ten years’ imprisonment, for example if the offender acts as a member of an organised group, breaches an important professional duty or causes death or serious bodily harm to more than one person. The proposal also provides for the sanctioning of negligent forms. According to the drafters, current practice shows that most environmental offences in the Czech Republic are dealt with only as misdemeanours and criminal sanctions are used only rarely.
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